Juneteenth is a significant day in U.S. history. The National Museum of African American History and Culture refers to Juneteenth as our country’s second independence day. Short for “June Nineteenth,” it is also known as “Freedom Day” and “Emancipation Day.”
What is Juneteenth?
On Jan. 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all enslaved people who were in states that rebelled against the Union were now free. In the lead-up to the end of the Civil War in April 1865, Union soldiers traveled throughout Confederate states to read the proclamation to slaves.
However, it would take two years for enslaved Texans to hear the news. On June 19, 1865, federal troops arrived in Galveston. Texas was the last Confederate state for those enslaved to learn about their freedom. The following year, June 19 became a day of remembrance and “Jubilee Day” for the over 250,000 newly freed African-Americans in Texas. Juneteenth has since been widely celebrated in the African-American community and is especially significant in Galveston.
Road to Federal Recognition
Texas became the first state to designate Juneteenth as a holiday in 1980. The summer of 2020’s nationwide protests against police brutality and demanding racial justice brought an increased awareness of its significance. Known as the “Grandmother of Junteenth”, Opal Lee also helped advocate for the national holiday by making freedom walks in North Texas and across the country. Houston artist Reginald Adams and his team created a Juneteenth mural in 2021, and his work has rippled across the United States. Juneteenth murals have since been painted in multiple cities across the country and will expand to San Francisco and New York this year.
On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden officially signed Juneteenth into law as the 11th federally recognized U.S. holiday. While President Donald Trump's new administration has downscaled or eliminated programs to support diversity, equity, and inclusion, the holiday is still cherished and widely celebrated in H-town.
Want to Learn More?
- Houston artist Reginald Adams shared how his Juneteenth mural spread across the country on City Cast Houston.
- If you want to walk through Freedmen’s Town, where freed slaves settled in Houston, we spoke with a resident and local historian about the historic area.
- I’ve learned a lot about Juneteenth and Texas’ Black history through reporting. My story about The Emancipation Trail follows the path that freed slaves took as they migrated from Galveston to Houston.
- Finally, I want to check out the Juneteenth 160 Fest in Freedmen’s Town, but I have even more fun ideas in my hand-picked roundup of the best Juneteenth celebrations.
